The Bethany Cornet Band played and the Salemsborg Quartette sang Swedish songs. Addresses were given by the Reverends Carl Swensson, J. Seleen, and S.P.A. Lindahl. The entire dedicatory program and the act of dedication was in Swedish.

Swensson's Bethany's Beginnings, 1882

In the following excerpts from fourth Swedish American Bethany College president Emory Lindquist's 1975 book, Bethany in Kansas the history of a college with notated pages, Lindsquist brings us to the very time of the way it was from the start of Bethany College.

This Bethany Academy building was at the very heart of Bethany College's beginnings.

Source: Bethany in Kansas, page 6

From pages 5 Lindsquist writes:

"The Lindsburg Localist [a Lindsborg newspaper] recognized the potential importance of "Swensson's school" in an article in June, 1882: "There is an enterprise underway here that should not be forgotten by our people, namely the Lutheran Bethany Academy. No enterprise could be of greater importance to the city. Talk it up." The editor had reported on March 23 that another city in Kansas, apparently McPherson on the basis of other sources, had offered $10,000 as an inducement to move Bethany Academy there. The Localist expressed concern on June 15: "Efforts are being made continually by competing towns to have the academy moved there. Lindsborg could not well afford to lose the academy." The Smoky Valley News observed solemnly in November, 1882, when commenting about the Lindsborg institution: "We also have the Lindsborg Academy under the supervision of the [local] Lutheran Church, a project that will be of great benefit to our city."7

From pages 5 and 7 Lindsquist writes:

"The encouraging response to the new school provided the incentive for the developments that occurred in 1882. The public school house, which had been purchased by Swensson, was moved to the "park" which had been donated by the Bethany congregation. A 16' x 24' addition was built to the school house and the area was then divided into three classrooms, one larger and two smaller. A small steeple to hold a bell was added. In July, 1882, the Smoky Hill district of the Kansas Conference of the Augustana Lutheran Synod pledged its congreations and members to support the new school. The following members of a board of directors were elected: The Reverends J. Seleen, A.W. Dahlsten, P. M. Sanquist, and C.A. Swensson and Messrs. Charles Strömquist, J. Thorstenberg, John A Swenson, and Andrew Lincoln.

Source: Billdt & Jaderborg, The Smoky Valley in The After Years, 1969

"The first meeting of the board was held on August 30, 1882. Pastor Sanquist opened the meeting with prayer. Carl Swensson was elected chairman, A. W. Dahlsten, secretary, and John A. Swenson, treasurer. The first action was authorization for Swensson to start a subscription of funds for the school. ...8

"A charter of Bethany Academy was authorized by the State of Kansas in September, 1882. Bethany Academy was dedicated at festive services on October 4, 1882. The Smoky Valley News reported: "One of the most interesting events in the history of Lindsborg is undoubtedly the dedication of Bethany Academny. Many people had to stand outside the Academy Building." The Bethany Cornet Band played and the Salemsborg Quartette sang Swedish songs. Addresses were given by the Reverends Carl Swensson, J. Seleen, and S.P.A. Lindahl. The entire dedicatory program and the act of dedication was in Swedish. When the program at the Academy Building was concluded, the band escorted the entire audience to the Tremont House where dinner was served. Exercises in the evening were scheduled for the Academy Building, but the crowd was too large and the wind was too strong for the Chinese lanterns that were to provide illumination, so the festivities were moved to the Bethany Church.9"

The Bethany Academy of 1882 building is located in the McPherson County Old Mill Museum Heritage Center. It contains some of the earliest and rarest mementos of the College's Swedishness. It is located adjacent to the Swedish Pavilion (1904) as show below on the left.

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